1. Technical Field
This invention relates to apparatus for dismantling buildings and similar structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The only prior art known to the applicant relates to an early form of the tool used in the present invention which was patented by the applicant's father, Michael Ramun, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,682 of Aug. 15, 1978. In the patent, the tool is referred to as a shearing tool for structural members and it was and has been successfully used in shearing horizontal beams adjacent a vertical column supporting the same.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,240,821 of Sept. 25, 1917 illustrates a wheeled vehicle having an elevated outwardly extending horizontal track upon which a buggy is movably mounted. A hammer is suspended from the buggy for the purpose of breaking stone therebeneath. The hammer is elevated by actuation of a cable and winch on the vehicle.
A similar arrangement of a rock crusher, except for the movable carriage, is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,485,362 of Oct., 1949.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,646,225 of July, 1953 discloses a crane having a boom carrying a conveyor belt by which a rock crushing weight is moved upwardly and outwardly to the end of the boom so that it may be dropped on a rock to be crushed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,710,767 of June, 1955 shows a wrecking ball with a hook suspended therefrom, the ball is controlled by a cable extending over a pulley at the end of a boom of a supporting and operating apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,155,328 of Nov. 1964 shows a backhoe including a bucket and means for moving it and a boom positioning a wrecking weight by means of a cable and a winch for controlling the cable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,893 of Nov. 1974 shows a crane with a cable trained over a pulley on the outermost end of a boom and supporting a chopping tool for demolition of a submerged vessel.
German OLS No. 1,607,449 of Aug. 1969 shows a weight that may be dropped on work surfaces for comminuting or crushing rocks, walls, scrap iron, or the like.
None of the prior art discloses the apparatus of the present invention.
The invention enables a building or like structure to be quickly and easily dismantled by dropping the tool on the building so that it penetrates a roof or other part of the structure being dismantled where it will puncture at least one opening therein and move downwardly therethrough whereupon a second cable secured to a lower part of the tool is moved away from the building or structure being dismantled to effectively pull the structure apart and move it toward the crane controlling the heavy inverted U-shaped tool of the apparatus.